Colorado Parks and Wildlife will consider a potential ban on the commercial sale of furbearers at its July commission meeting. 

The idea for a ban on the commercial sale, barter or trade of furs from furbearer species — a classification that includes 17 wildlife species like​​ foxes, beavers, coyotes, bobcats and other mesocarnivores — came from a citizen petition brought to Parks and Wildlife last year by a Colorado representative of the Center of Biological Diversity. 

The commission approved the petition in March, against the recommendation of Parks and Wildlife staff, initiating a formal rulemaking process on the proposed ban. 

Now, Parks and Wildlife is seeking public input on the proposal to inform staff’s development of an issue paper that will be presented to the commission during its July 16-17 meetings. The agency will be accepting input from the public through May 3 on EngageCPW.org.  

The proposed ban — and agency’s overall management of these 17 species — has been a topic of much debate at commission meetings for many months.  

In Colorado, furbearers can be hunted with the purchase of ​​a $10 permit available to individuals who purchase a small game license. In its 2024-25 fiscal year, the agency sold 19,620 furbearer permits. While there are currently no limits on the number that a furbearer permit-holder can kill of these species, the agency has had initial discussions about potentially imposing a daily limit.   

Samantha Miller, a Grand Lake resident and the senior carnivore campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity who submitted the petition, has referred to the ban of commercial sale for furbearer furs as a “common sense change” and “low bar” that aligns furbearers with how Colorado manages other wildlife species. Miller and other supporters of the ban argue that allowing the commercial sale of furs incentivizes overharvesting of the animals and threatens overall biodiversity. 

In her recommendation to the commission, Laura Clellan, the newly appointed Parks and Wildlife director, wrote that the agency’s main rationale for denying the ban on commercial fur sales is that the petition “lacks solid evidence that commercial fur sales drive harvest levels in Colorado.”

Opponents of the petition supported the agency’s stance and have argued that the state’s current furbearer management works and is backed by science. Many claim that the proposed commercial ban represents a greater attack on hunting and trapping, which represents an important tradition in Colorado and supports conservation.

Fire crews are extinguishing hot spots on a wildfire in northern Colorado that prompted evacuations early Wednesday for people living near Carter Lake in Larimer County.

The Cougar Run fire was estimated at about 3 1/2 acres at about 8:30 a.m., down from an earlier estimate of 10 acres, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. The cause for the fire, which is burning on state land, remains unknown. 

The mandatory evacuation remained in effect as crews continue to work but were lifted at about 10:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office said.

Voluntary evacuations were also being urged for residents in the area of Blue Mountain and Spring Valley, west of Carter Lake, the agency said. 

Crews from the sheriff’s office, the state’s fire division and Berthoud and Loveland fire departments are on scene, the sheriff’s office said. A helicopter was ordered. 

Fire restrictions are in effect for areas below 9,000 feet in unincorporated parts of Larimer County, barring uncontained open fires and smoking in open areas, such as trails and open spaces. 

“Elevated to critical fire weather” is expected across the lower Front Range foothills and Interstate 25 corridor Wednesday due to warm, dry and breezy conditions, according to the National Weather Service.  Moisture is expected to lower fire risk starting Thursday and through the weekend, with daily chances of showers and thunderstorms, the service said.

A separate fire that sparked northwest of Boulder grew to about 2 acres before crews stopped its progress earlier Wednesday. An evacuation warning was issued for the Goat Trail fire just before 4 a.m.